Jersey Comeback starts as A.C. casinos reopen

Gambling resort had been shut down for storm since Sunday

Nov. 3, 2012

Ray Scribner of the Paradise Park mobile home community in Highlands, Monmouth County, returns to his devastated trailer to search for personal belongings Friday. His cat, Tan, was found safe after Hurricane Sandy. / Gannett NJ photo/Tanya Breen

Written by

Maryclaire Dale

Associated Press

• Sandy is now being blamed for 22 deaths in New Jersey. • Lines at gas stations in North Jersey are getting longer. • NJ Transit said it would have more rail service restored by Monday. • About 1.5 million business and residential customers remained without electricity as of Friday afternoon. • 8,000 workers from out of state were helping 10,000 people based here to restore power.

Expanded storm coverage inside

Shelter evacuees head back home to Atlantic County shore towns. A8 All in a strange day’s work for Toms River police chief. A9 Battered Staten Island residents feel forgotten by New York City. A10 Mayor reverses course amid criticism, cancels New York City Marathon. A12

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ATLANTIC CITY — All but two casinos in Atlantic City were back in business Friday, hours after getting the permission to reopen from Gov. Chris Christie and five days after the approaching Hurricane Sandy forced them to close their doors.

Christie issued his order at 10 a.m., also reopening roads to the seaside resort, which was subject to a mandatory evacuation.

The Golden Nugget moved quickly to start recouping its losses, opening within two hours of the governor’s order. Nine others were opening later in the day as the struggling gambling industry scrambled to restart after a second forced shutdown in two years. Revel casino planned to open at noon Saturday and the Atlantic Club on Monday.

Although the casinos’ return was one sign of normalcy, there’s still much to do before the Jersey Comeback can get fully under way. Gas lines in the northern half of the state got longer Friday, prompting the governor to order an odd-even rationing system in 12 North Jersey counties starting today. The storm’s death toll continued to rise, and 1.5 million homes and businesses still didn’t have electricity.

Among the first customers at Golden Nugget was 63-year-old Joyce Dean, who lives in Atlantic City. “I was cooped up with my sister,” said Dean, a retiree who said she visits the Golden Nugget daily.

Golden Nugget general manager Tom Pohlman said he understands some gamblers are more focused on recovery than diversions. But he said reopening will help employees.

“We employ a large majority of the people that live in Atlantic City and surrounding barrier islands,” he said. “Unfortunately, our people don’t get paid if they don’t work.”

Tropicana President Tony Rodio, who also heads the Casino Association of New Jersey, said the casinos need to open to get the city’s economy going again. But officials realize it could take months for the industry to bounce back, because so many of its customers in the mid-Atlantic have been affected by the storm, he said.

Getting workers in place at the businesses was expected to be a challenge. The city had been shut down since Sunday. And with the reopening, traffic congestion was expected to be a problem.

The casinos were closed Sunday as Sandy bore down on New Jersey’s coast. It was only the fourth time in New Jersey’s 34-year history of legal casino gambling that the industry was shut down.

The storm made landfall with hurricane-force winds just a few miles from Atlantic City on Monday.

The city was flooded and an old section of its famous boardwalk — the nation’s first — was wrecked in the storm, though other parts of New Jersey’s coast were hit even harder.

Last year, casinos were closed when Tropical Storm Irene hit the coast. That three-day shutdown, which came on a busy summer weekend, cost the city $45 million in lost business.

The only other closures were for Hurricane Gloria in 1985 and a state government shutdown in 2006.

The casinos have been on a losing streak over the last six years during a sour economy and because of increased competition from neighboring states.

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